Some time ago, I came across some of the thinking of Charles Handy wherein he uses the idea that life cycles (for businesses and for individuals) follow an S -shaped curve – a sigmoid curve, which looks like an S turned on its side – where there is an initial dip followed by growth and, finally, decline. This life cycle has a base building/introduction phase, followed by a growth phase, then a flat comfort phase, and, finally, a declining phase. According to Handy, all organizations, persons, relationships, living organisms, and congregations experience such phases. The curve represents the ways in which you got to where you are and illustrates that those are seldom the things that keep you there. It implies the inevitability of change and the necessity for changing when things are good, not when they start to go bad. It is the story of the life cycle of most congregations amidst communities in North America. Congregations must start new curves!I borrow this inevitability to emphasize that the organizations that survive are those that understand the necessity for creating new curves. The organism must experiment with new ways and new ideas, and not all of them will work, but it must always be experimenting with new evangelically missional curves if it is to survive. This might be propitious for the Evangelical community. The influx of immigrants to North America creates more than simply an opportunity, it fertilizes an alarming obligation. Congregations must start new curves!The changing North American demographic landscape is the most fertile mission field ever encountered in the West. It was churchman Dr. Tom Nees who stated in his book, The Changing Face of the Church, American Christians did evangelism at home and missions abroad… the stereotypical missionary is an American who crosses an ocean or border, learns another language, adapts to a foreign culture, introduces the Gospel, and plants a church… Not any more. And there can be no retreat or standing still for those who wish to make the Gospel relevant to the changing face of the church. Congregations must start a second curve!The challenge of the second curve is to find a way to start that curve – new Ethnic-Specific Congregations (ESC’s) – while still building upon the success, learning and maturity gained from the first curve (the native congregation).May this book be the spark to engage you in a necessary conversation about the role of culture in the mission of the church, and beyond!As an anonymous Indian uttered,
Don’t give me the Gospel as a potted plant; give me the seed and I’ll plant it in my own soil. - Anonymous
